


It's yours

by KitMiller



Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani and Nicky | Nicolò di Genova are in Love, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani is an Incurable Romantic, Like this started out as crack but it got sappy fast, M/M, Nicky | Nicolò di Genova Loves Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Poet Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Short & Sweet, There's a book of poetry and they wax poetic about one another, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, it's so cheesy, so in love, that's it that's the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:09:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26987245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KitMiller/pseuds/KitMiller
Summary: Nile finds a book. Joe and Nicky argue about it.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 4
Kudos: 149





	It's yours

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first idea I ever had for an Old Guard fic, actually. It set in my WIP doc for a while, then I had a sudden burst of inspiration and finished it. Now it's very sappy crack. Enjoy!

The mission had been a success, but it was getting too hot to keep this safe house anyway. So they were packing up. 

A small book in Arabic, bound in pale blue linen, fell into Nile's hands. There were things that belonged to Joe, other things that belonged to Nicky, and a lot of things that belonged to Joe-and-Nicky. Books, though, were personal. So she went to look for Joe, finding him empty the kitchen cabinets. "Here," she said, holding the book out to him. "That's yours."

"Thanks." He took it absently. Then took a look at it. Then shook his head. "That's Nicky's."

"What?" 

"I gave this to Nicky because it has some of my poetry in it."

"What."

"I lost some of my journals," Joe explained. "Someone found them, though, and now some of my poetry is circulating academia. You know how it is."

Nile really didn't.

Joe was gesturing with the book as he spoke. "There's all sorts of debates and controversies about it. Concrete dating, questions of authorship, that sort of thing. They sometimes attribute other poems to me, which is very flattering. They don't attribute all my poems to me, though." He laughed. "Which is understandable since I wrote them centuries apart." He tapped on the small blue book. "This volume happens to have most of Nicky's favourites. So I gave it to him."

Nile blinked. "Okay. I'll give this to Nicky, then," was all she could think of saying.

"You do that."

She went to Nicky, who was folding clothes. "Joe says this is your book."

He thanked her. But then he shook his head when he looked at it. "That's Joe's."

Nile was so done. "Are you kidding me?"

"No," he replied seriously. "I found this book by accident. I realised some of Joe's poetry made it out into the world and was very famous and popular. I gave this book to him as a gift."

"Okay, but — he says he gave it to you."

He frowned. "He must be mistaken. I am sure I got this for him. He was very happy when I gave it to him, I distinctly remember." Joe walked by the open door, and Nicky said, "Habibi, didn't I give this book to you?"

Joe leaned into the room. "No, I did. To you. It has your favourites in it."

"Yes, but that's beside the point." Nicky waved the book around. "I found this book in Paris, at les Bouquinistes. It caught my eye because it is in Arabic. And then I realised it had some of your poetry in it. Your eyes lit up so beautifully when I gave it to you."

"You did get me a book of poems from les Bouquinistes," Joe argued. "But it's not that one." He pointed to the book in Nicky's hand. "That one I found in a dusty antiquarian bookshop in a picturesque town in Turkey. It was the first time I found my poems in a published book, and then I saw it had your favourites. You were speechless, and the stars paled in comparison to the wonder that was your eyes. I told you to keep it close to you so even when we had to be apart, my love would travel with you."

Nile clutched her dog tags. She still was not immune to them getting sappy like that; the beauty, the love in their words took her breath away every time.

But Nicky was shaking his head. "Why would I do that with this book when I already have your poetry etched onto my heart?" He paused. "And when I have handwritten versions?" He held the book out to Joe. "It's yours. I got it for you in Paris, because it is proof that the rest of the world now knows of your talent."

Joe held up his hands, shaking his head. "What do I care for the world when my words are only ever for you? It's yours. I got this book for you in Turkey because there are poems in it that you missed but I had forgotten."

Nicky opened his mouth, but Andy passed at that moment and leaned into the room, just like Joe had done, but with a frown. "What's taking you so long? I want to be out the door in twenty."

Nile replied, "They're arguing over who gave this book to who."

Andy rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Does it matter?"

"It matters to me," Joe replied, his eyes glinting joyfully.

Andy sighed. "When did you say you got it, Nicky?"

"January of 1899" Nicky said promptly.

"And you, Joe?"

"I don't know. Before Turkey was Turkey."

Andy beckoned and Nicky handed the book over. Andy flipped open the cover, then sighed again. World-weary and heavy. "This book was printed in 2008."

**Author's Note:**

> With "before Turkey was Turkey," Joe means any time between 1900 and 1923.
> 
> Beth laughed when I read this to her (in a nice way). I hope you enjoyed it, too :)


End file.
